The second annual CESA STEM Forum took place on Wednesday November 27 at the Adelaide Convention Centre with more than 150 teachers, students, leaders and industry experts in attendance.
Hosted by CESA’s Learning Technologies Team, the forum celebrates all things STEM, bringing together educators from over forty schools from the Early Years to Senior Secondary, who have engaged in many of CESA’s STEM projects and networks throughout the year.
The forum is an opportunity for teachers to share their STEM learning journeys through film, static displays and presentations of their inquiries. Students were invited to share and demonstrate their understandings and innovations.
The day included a variety of guest speakers and workshops run by industry partners who excel in the fields of STEM. As the opening keynote, Indigenous astrophysicist Kirsten Banks took attendees on a journey through the stars and solar system, to understand ways the indigenous people have used the night sky as a guide for hunting, gathering and telling of the Dreaming. Her inspirational address had participants fascinated about the world of astrology and the importance it plays in different cultures.
Fourteen schools presented their STEM learning journeys through high-quality static presentations. A highlight of the presentations was the student-led demonstrations to share their learning and showcase the rich and authentic experiences they engaged with at their schools, allowing interaction between visitors and students. The students demonstrated the use of a variety of technology and design methodologies utilised in their learning through their schools’ STEM projects.
Seven schools created films to visually share their STEM learning journeys. These films invited viewers into school spaces to see the experiential learning students engaged in, as well as their reflections on STEM learning.
Educators on behalf of fifteen schools shared their learning journeys with other educators through 25-minute presentations. The presentations explored ways STEM inquiries were integrated within the curriculum, analysed the challenges and successes experienced through the process and unpacked the future direction of STEM within their school.
Educators had the chance to engage in STEM professional learning with leading industry partners, participating in workshops designed to extend, challenge and provoke action.
The workshops included ‘Code Like a Girl’, which unpacked the current state of ‘diversity in tech’ and explored the implications for individuals and larger social groups when the population building technology isn’t representative of the population that technology seeks to serve. This presentation considered the barriers to entry into tech education, and discuss how technology specialists, industry, government and community educators can work together to improve accessibility to technical education.
Through their demonstrations and presentations, teachers clearly articulated the application of the Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics disciplines and reflected on the importance of encouraging students to work collaboratively while using their critical and creative thinking to find solutions to real world problems.
Congratulations to everyone one who participated for making the 2019 forum a wonderful celebration of STEM learning.
In partnership with the CESA Learning Technologies team and University of South Australia lecturer Dr Paul Unsworth, several CESA schools have been working to create Virtual Reality (VR) tours of community spaces.
